The present invention relates generally to gas pilot safety systems and particularly to pilot burners for use with flame sensing generators such as thermopiles or thermocouples.
Pilot burners and generators that are physically separate are widely used to assure that a pilot flame is available before allowing gas flow to a main burner. For example, the generator may include a thermocouple which generates a millivolt output when it is heated by the pilot burner. The millivolt output must be present in order for the safety system to allow the gas valve to open. Rather precise placement of the generator with respect to the pilot burner is required to assure accurate flame sensing.
In the past various methods have been used for mounting the pilot burner in proximity to the main burner and for mounting the physically separate generator so that it will properly sense the heat from the pilot flame. A common method is to use a bracket having one location for the mounting of the pilot burner and a separate location for the mounting of the generator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,472 issued to Roger S. Loveland on Mar. 16, 1965 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,892 issued to Donnel H. Fox et al on Jan. 6, 1976 are illustrative of past methods used for mounting pilot burner and generators.
The past methods have the disadvantage of requiring precise placement of the generator with respect to the pilot burner to assure accurate flame sensing. Generators are frequently replaced in the field and the variety of generator types and mounting arrangements makes it difficult to achieve the precise placement of the generator.
Thus a need exists for a pilot burner and generator that eliminates problems associated with placement of a generator relative to a pilot burner.